Twenty days passed in the blink of an eye, and all departments achieved extremely rich harvests!
Twenty days in the left side hall were equivalent to 1000 days, less than three years. During this period, Zhang Wei finally completed the storage of all the ingredients he had accumulated.
The replication rate had increased by about thirty to forty percent.
And now, Zhang Wei was about to face the unique spiritual energy ingredients of this world!
After his efforts over this period, by plundering regions in the five or six states, he had accumulated approximately two thousand mid-grade spirit stones.
Storing these was very simple.
With a slight exertion of force, Zhang Wei crushed the spirit stones into lusterless dust.
One mid-grade spirit stone was worth about seven gourmet coins, which was still quite good.
Zhang Wei did not stop.
He crushed them one by one.
...
After crushing about fifty of them, the replication time finally reached one day.
He crushed them again.
Once the replication rate reached one day, each crushed stone would increase it by approximately 0.005 grams.
After crushing all one thousand, it would only increase by five grams.
And Zhang Wei had nearly two thousand mid-grade spirit stones.
Eleven grams might not sound like much, and it looked even less, like a small pile of salt filling a spoon.
But the spiritual energy emanating from it was intoxicating.
When observed with electromagnetic induction, surging spiritual energy was shooting out from it!
He called Zhan Hua, who, upon seeing the spoon, immediately changed his expression: "Such pure spiritual energy essence!"
"I refined this."
Zhan Hua ignored him and anxiously urged, "Quick, quick, put it away! Find a jade box!"
"What's wrong?"
"The spiritual energy on this is dissipating frantically! It's all scattering into the air. This... this is too wasteful! In just a minute, thousands of spirit stones can be lost!"
Dissipating?
So that's how it is, an active ingredient?
This spoon of spirit energy crystals was indeed a bit less than at the beginning. It could dissipate about 0.1 grams per hour?
That's equivalent to twenty mid-grade spirit stones...
Which is twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones...
Which is five times the wealth stored by the Tianmen Sect previously!
No wonder Zhan Hua was so agitated that he lost his composure in front of Zhang Wei, who had always been respectful.
"Would this taste very sweet? And replenish stamina significantly?"
Zhan Hua was stunned and asked, "Eat?"
"Of course."
Zhan Hua swallowed and said, "I really don't know about that, but even a tiny bit the size of a fingernail, with its excessively abundant spiritual energy, would likely cause the body to explode! However, if a Golden Core stage cultivator consumed a small amount, their stamina would surely recover quickly."
In summary, it was due to being too weak.
One mid-grade spirit stone was equivalent to half the spiritual energy reserves of a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage, and the extracted spirit energy crystal was only 0.05 grams.
In that case...
The concept of this spirit energy crystal was somewhat like white sugar!
White sugar!
Since ancient times, it has been an extremely precious strategic material, and its sole purpose is to provide energy!
Firstly, dry white sugar has almost no shelf life, unlike various military rations which are subject to limitations.
Secondly, it has a very high energy density, as it contains almost no moisture, making it extremely pure! One gram of white sugar can provide four large calories, equivalent to four times the amount of raw beef.
High energy density also means light weight, greatly reducing logistical pressure.
Furthermore, white sugar can be added to many explosives. There's a saying: "One part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, three parts charcoal, add some white sugar for immense power."
The last point is that white sugar is the human body's most prioritized energy source. Both in use and absorption, it is the fastest. It takes half an hour to restore stamina after eating a bowl of rice, with most of the time spent on digestion. White sugar, however, takes less than three minutes to completely enter the bloodstream!
In ancient times, without the method to refine white sugar, there was a miraculous food with a sugar content of 98%, which was honey!
Using it could achieve the same effect as white sugar. It's said that honey can keep one alive, precisely because of this. The effect of consuming it is almost instantaneous!
This is nearly identical to the properties of spiritual energy!
The function of spiritual energy is also to provide energy, with no possibility of spoilage, but it does dissipate, somewhat like a gas crystal.
It is absorbed quickly, with almost no delay, entering the body for its use!
The brain needs sugar as raw material to secrete dopamine, which is why eating sweet foods makes one happy. Spiritual energy is similar; cultivators have an instinctive craving for it!
Zhang Wei was unaware of what this small amount of spirit energy crystal in his hand represented to cultivators!
This was a combat medicine even more precious than mid-grade spirit stones!
Moreover, if the excess nutrients were not consumed, they would be converted within the body, just as excess sugar is stored as fat, causing no waste at all.
Cultivators could also use excess spiritual energy to nourish their bodies and strengthen their physique.
"I see..."
"To provide spiritual energy..."
"Hiss~ Speaking of which, there's no spiritual energy in the left side hall at all. If a large amount of spirit energy crystals could be produced, perhaps... they could be made into fertilizer and put into the soil, allowing the left side hall to cultivate spiritual fields as well."
Zhan Hua was unaware of Zhang Wei's thoughts, otherwise, he would have been so angry he'd have a cerebral hemorrhage.
Using spirit energy crystals as fertilizer?
He certainly had the nerve to think of that!
Zhang Wei said, "These spirit energy crystals are not precious to me. I need more mid-grade spirit stones."
Zhan Hua was also unaware of the rules of the Treasury Hall and found Zhang Wei's actions puzzling.
He had such pure substances as spirit energy crystals, and he didn't care about them, yet he was still after those mid-grade spirit stones that were like mud in comparison?
Could this new boss of mine be some sort of foolish heir from a landlord's family?